The present invention relates to a food carrier, and in particular to a food carrier for carrying a plurality of meal containers in a stacked orientation, and allowing for removal of the meal containers from a lower portion of the carrier.
Food carriers are used in a wide variety of applications, such as for carrying liquids and/or prepackaged foods. Food carriers typically a top loading area, whereby meal containers or trays may be loaded within the food carrier, and a lower removal area from which the meal trays may be removed from within the food carrier.
Heretofore, food carriers have typically been constructed of a rigid, nondeformable material such as plastic or metal and have had significantly complicated designs. Specifically, the materials from which typical food carriers have been constructed are heavy and/or are prone to fracture and/or rupture if impacted or dropped. Most food carriers included housings constructed of multiple components that required assembly subsequent to fabrication of the individual parts. In addition, doors for previous food carriers were typically fastened via complicated hinge assemblies. Other designs allowed for “floating” door/lids and provided no means for positive engagement thereof. Further, no positive means for locking the doors in a closed position were provided to prevent the doors from accidentally opening and the associated meal trays from inadvertently falling out of the food carrier. Still further, previous food carrier designs have included apertures located in a top wall thereof covered by a lid which required removal in order to load the meal trays therein. The removal of the lid to allow loading necessarily allowed significant amounts of heat to escape from within the housing each time additional meal containers were placed therein.